Jubilee warning over Chinese lanterns

PEOPLE in the Warrington area celebrating the Jubilee are being warned that using Chinese Lanterns may cause harm to local livestock.
The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) said the lanterns pose a threat to livestock and standing crops.
CLA says the wire-framed lanterns, which lift into the air with a lighted candle inside them, have become a popular addition to festivities with annual sales in the region of 100,000.
It says the threat occurs when the paper lanterns burn out leaving the wire frames to fall to earth.
Regional director Dorothy Fairburn said: “At this time of year we are approaching silage and hay making. The wire frames from these lanterns getting into livestock feed is a real threat to animals and could cause them serious injury or death.”
Miss Fairburn said the fire risk to standing corn crops, hay and straw barns and moorland areas during the drier summer months was worrying.
“Chinese lanterns may look very pretty, but people who use them need to understand the potential fire and animal health threat they are releasing,” she said.
“Research has shown that, on average, firefighters around the country are called out once a week to tackle blazes caused by Chinese Lanterns, which highlights the scale of the problem.”